♪♪ hey, everybody, good afternoon. great to see you. i'm yasmin vossoughian. it's 3:00 p.m. here in new york, 9:00 p.m. in ukraine where russia's invasion has, in fact, intensified. ukrainian officials saying russian forces have advanced in the besieged port city of mariupol as fierce fighting continues in multiple southern towns today. russia's military claiming they have used hypersonic missiles in combat for the first time to destroy an ammunition depot in

western ukraine. these weapons are capable of flying five times the speed of sound. however, nbc news was not able to verify these claims. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy now pushing for even more direct and meaningful talks with the russian president to end the war and, quote, restore territorial integrity and justice to ukraine as he puts it. just a short time ago, zelenskyy called on the swiss government to freeze the bank accounts of all russian oligarchs as well. amid all of this, a massive effort to save ukrainians as they get caught in the crosshairs of the war. we have new satellite images from maxar showing the remains of the bombedout theater in mariupol where hundreds were seeking shelter. rescue operations continuing there as president zelenskyy says about 130 people have been saved so far. humanitarian corridors. they have also been opened today, allowing for hundreds to leave cities under attack right now. ukrainian emergency services reporting that in the southeastern city of luhansk

today, 700 residents were able to be evacuated. and then new reporting from unicef saying 1.5 million kids have fled ukraine as refugees. since the start of the invasion. we want to begin, though, in lviv, everybody, where residents are bracing for even more attacks after russian troops launched multiple missiles that an aircraft repair plant near the city last night. nbc's ali arouzi is in lviv with more. good to see you as always. lviv was supposed to be the safe harbor place. so many ukrainians fled west to seek safety in lviv. it seems as if the fight is closing in now on that city, getting closer by the hour. talk us through what you have been experiencing there over the last few hours. >> reporter: hi, yasmin. that's right. yesterday morning at first light, 6:00, the air raid sirens went off here. about 15 minutes later there were about three or four large

explosions and the lviv skyline was filled with black smoke. and then we learned that the russians had launched an attack on that aircraft maintenance facility just four miles from the city center, and that's the closest lviv has come to this conflict so far. the russians have opened up fronts on the north, east, and south but lviv in the west has remained relatively unscathed, but that may be changing. last week, the russians hit a military base close to the polish border and yesterday morning, they hit this aircraft maintenance facility just four miles from the city center. the ukrainian air force say that the russians launched six cruise missiles from the black sea. the ukrainians say that they intercepted two of those missiles, but it pretty much destroyed that facility, which was probably housing some of ukraine's dwindling, aging aircraft, and it shows that the russians are now going after infrastructure that's keeping

ukrainian aircraft in the air and possibly sending a message to the west that they will target supply lines and places where ammunition and other things may be stored. so, making the people here in lviv a bit jittery. i wouldn't say frightened, but much more anxious and aware. >> ali, expand on that for us, the strategic significance of the russian advance on a city like lviv. considering the fact that the world thought this was going to be a place that would stay relatively safe throughout this war. >> reporter: that's right. at the beginning of this conflict, there was talk that putin may not be interested in lviv because he would consider it a part of poland, that historically it was, but that appears to be changing. lviv is a hub for waves and waves of displaced people. they would -- they have seen this place as a safe zone. these people have escaped battered parts of the east to

come to the relative safety of this place, and it is a safe place, yasmin. i mean, people are walking around the streets. the cafes are open. no bombs have dropped in the middle of lviv. but people are now much more aware of what could happen. i mean, can you imagine some family has escaped the east, they're left their homes, possibly been destroyed, and then at 6:00 in the morning, you're woken up by an air raid siren, you have to take your kids, your pets downstairs. you look at the sky, there's black smoke. it makes you anxious. but the people here are so stoic, so courageous. you talk to them about it and they say, look, we're the lucky ones here. we have to be worried about the people in the east. they are the ones that are getting pounded. we are in the relative safety of lviv. and they're very grateful to be here and it's a city that's functioning like most other places, but of course, it is a city in a country caught in a conflict. there's a strict curfew here at 10:00 in the evening. no alcohol is served in any hotels, restaurants, bars, nor can you buy any.

so, you know, they want to keep people very aware. they want to let them know that this war could expand to here if putin decides to take it that far, and there have been signs of it so far. >> and that's an incredibly important point because what these people are telling you is right. obviously, as you're kind of painting the picture, that for now, lviv seems to be relatively safe, but as we've seen in other cities around ukraine, the situation has changed on a dime. so, i'm wondering if there are some people that feel as if they need to at least come up with some sort of exit plan if, in fact, bombs start dropping in the city of lviv, if russian forces begin to advance. >> well, exactly. some people do have an exit plan, but they're the luckier ones because they have the means and they have a network of people in other countries that can help them. but a lot -- for a lot of people, this is the last stop. a, because they don't have a network in other places. they don't have any money.

and some of them just simply do not want to leave their country. but conditions here for many people are also very difficult, even though they don't grumble about it. we've spoken to countless amounts of people that are relying on the kindness of friends, on strangers to stay in their apartments. we met several people that told me that, you know, a friend's mother died and they had an empty apartment, and there are three families living in a tiny little thousand square foot apartment with about eight kids in there. they don't really know each other, and they're saying, you know, we're the lucky ones. we've got shelter over our heads. we can get food. it's a warm place. and that's just the way it is. but if this place was to be attacked, the displacement would be horrific, and i have also got to tell you, it's an incredibly beautiful city. it's a unesco world heritage site. you walk around the streets here, the view probably hasn't changed in 150 years so it would also be a disaster to flatten this city as well.

>> yeah. a humanitarian crisis even more horrific than we are already seeing. ali arouzi, as always, thank you. i want to bring in sergei, advisor to president zelenskyy's chief of staff and former member of the ukrainian parliament. thank you for joining us on this. i first want to just -- >> thank you. >> yeah, absolutely. i first want to get you to respond to our correspondent on the ground there, ali, reporting from lviv, and there is a sense of current safety, it seems, still in that city, relatively so, despite the fact that bombs are dropping ten miles away or so at the airport. how quickly do you think that situation could change? how worried are you about the city of lviv? >> you know, there is no safe in ukraine anymore, unfortunately, but we see that bombs from putin -- he bombed the area just 20 kilometers away from borders of nato. so, it means there is no safe to

stay in ukraine anymore. unfortunate to say this, but lviv, of course, is a place for ukrainians to find the shelter, to find a way to spend days, weeks, months, i don't know, away from their homes, but unfortunately, you see that we start to bomb lviv as well. he bombed not only lviv but another west part of ukraine city, and he bombed some airports and air drones in the western part of ukraine. so, i can say that, unfortunately, without find a way to fix the problem of our skies, how to close our skies, we cannot be safe anywhere in ukraine, because he use very comprehensive weapons against ukraine. he use not only fighter jets.

he use also military ships from black sea to have rockets to bomb ukrainian cities from the black sea. you can imagine these rockets can take, like, two, 3,000 miles to bomb ukrainian cities, just because it's winged rockets. it's not the problem for them to bomb ukrainian cities, even from black sea. on the western border of nato. it means that, unfortunately to say this, but we are alone in this fight, and in this fight, we need to fix the main problem, how to be safe from the air. because on the ground, battlefield, we are very successful. ukrainian army, ukrainian troops can resist this aggression of putin with no problem on the battlefield. because they are demotivated, poor with backyard support, let's say this way, very poor with motivation, but with air,

they are very successful and sad that we are not able to defend ourselves from the air. >> let's talk through a few scenarios here. serhi, we have you on, especially because of your closeness with the president. we know there are negotiations going on currently between russia and ukraine. we know your president as well has said publicly he wants to speak directly with vladimir putin. from what i am hearing, do the ukrainians -- does president zelenskyy -- do you believe the ukrainian army is winning this war right now? >> i can say that we are big surprise for russia and for the whole world. they believed in russian and kremlin that in three days, we're going to give up. and give putin the key from kyiv city, from our capital, and our president would flee from

ukraine to elsewhere abroad. but it's more than three weeks of war in ukraine, and they were able just to occupy one regional center called kherson and few smaller cities like melitopol. also, they are stocked with no way to occupy kharkiv. the first capital of ukraine in 20th century, big city like -- almost like amsterdam. they are not able to occupy kyiv. they are not able now to occupy mariupol. quite small port on the asoph sea and mariupol is now the example of how people can be heroes to resist this aggression. and unfortunately, but without the support from the sky, we are much weaker. that is why every day on my

interview i say that we need more support from our partners from abroad to be able to resist, because on the ground, they are very, very poor because they are not motivated. they are not able to fight. and our army is much better than it was seven, eight years ago. as our chief commander said, russian army now in 2022 like our army, ukrainian army was in 2014. so, eight years passed, and we are much more comprehensive with our resistance and our fightability, let's say it this way. that is why we just need to fix one issue. how to defend ourselves from the air. >> so, serhi, you know at this point, from what we're hearing from the west, putting in a no-fly zone is a nonstarter.

you have a commitment of $800 million in military aid at this point from the president of the united states. what more could come? what more does ukraine need right now, aside from a no-fly zone? at this time. >> first of all, let me be frank. we are very much appreciate the support from your government, your taxpayers, your citizens. let's be frank. this is the main partner of ukraine in this war. that is why i cannot claim, but at the same time, we need to close the sky or you have fighter jets from post-communist countries, because our ukrainian pilots are able to use these fighter jets because they are skillful with these fighter jets. or you have anti-aircraft comprehensive systems to defend ukraine. from the sky. like 300 or something like this.

so, with all my appreciation to americans, we would like to have your support with this special military equipment supplement because it will be much easier for ukraine to defend ourselves. we don't want to lose thousands of thousands of ukrainians, civilians dying in this war. we don't want to have thousands of apartment buildings destroyed. they started to destroy kyiv, you know? if you see on the photo, this building on the screen now, this is kyiv. it's not somewhere. i know this area because i run as a candidate to parliament. i lost my election, but i know this area. it's quite modest area, let's say. it's area when quite modest people live. they're not rich. they have a little money, you know, and this is destroyed now.

>> and now they have nothing. >> it's -- for me, for me, it's a big drama. it's for all ukrainians, it's a big drama. how it happened. because they bombed -- this is a school on the screen now. you see this is a school or kindergarten from this area. it's kyiv. it's, let's say, 15-minute drive from our main square. and unfortunately to say, but without support on the sky, fighter jets, no-fly zone, anti-aircraft system, we are not able to defend ourselves. which is why all my interviews, i'm saying the same. we need more support. >> serhi, we thank you so much for joining us this hour. >> thank you. thank you. and i appreciate your help, but please stand with ukraine. >> please stay safe. >> we are fighting not only for ukraine. we are fighting for the values of your society and european society as well. >> stay safe, serhi.

thank you so much. >> thank you. all right, still ahead, everybody, more than 3 million people, they have fled that country since the war began. most arriving in poland. we're live in warsaw with the latest on the ground there. plus the look at the efforts to feed people in kyiv as the food supply there literally falls apart amidst all that rubble. all of that destruction. and as we go to break, a ukrainian soldier playing his country's national anthem for his fellow fighters. ♪♪ i recommend nature made vitamins, because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp, an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand.

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welcome back, everybody. so as of today, 1.5 million kids have fled war-torn ukraine. that is according to unicef and the u.n. most refugees arriving in poland as officials there are continuing to call for assistance in accepting them. nbc's claudio joins us live from warsaw. great to see you. we know you spent some time today outside of warsaw's main train station. many refugees there rifg at registration points for those who want to stay in poland. what'd you see there? >> reporter: hey, yasmin, yes, most of the -- or many of the more than 2 million refugees coming from ukraine to poland arrived at main station we went to and what we saw was this army of polish volunteers offering

everything they can from clothes to hot tea to food to even free sim cards to put into their phones so they can call their loved ones to tell them that they survived the very dangerous journey through a country marred by death and destruction. and among the many people we spoke to was this young mother who traveled alone with her kid and who arrived there at the station this morning. let's listen to what she had to say. >> they said that they're probably going to be more bombings, so you shouldn't come here so just go abroad and that's how we decided to come here. right now, we live in the volunteers apartment, and by april 1st, we have to leave the apartment. so, we're looking for some accommodation here in warsaw. if we find something, then we are going to stay, and he will go to school. but if we don't, we will have to go somewhere else to look for place where we can arrange school for him and accommodation

for us. >> reporter: i'm in a place we went to this morning, yasmin, was the main stadium in warsaw, which has been turned into this massive registration center for ukrainians looking to register for a social security number. now, they need that if they prefer to stay here in poland for the coming months if they want to access things like healthcare or find a job, but so many arrived to register. it was the first day that the state opened up as a registration center. so many ukrainians arrived to register that the authorities had to turn them away and tell them to come back tomorrow, yasmin. >> and what a stark difference it must be for so many of these refugees leaving this war-torn country, hearing the horns now behind you in the distance in the evening of warsaw, poland, somewhere that is peaceful, just celebrating the beautiful evening. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much. nbc's claudio lavanga from

warsaw. coming up, everybody, gnats, scum, and traitors, those are the words vladimir putin used to describe anybody against this war in ukraine as he calls for a self-detoxification, as he put it specifically, of russia. we're going to do a deep dive on putin's fiery and incredibly dangerous language. that's coming up. incredibly dangerous language that's coming up age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein

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his military is not hitting homes in the ukrainian capital or elsewhere. because attacking civilians is an international war crime, and president putin insists he's doing everything he can to preserve the lives of civilians. that's in direct contradiction to the evidence we and many others are finding on the ground. in the center is a playground. around it, a residential block, people's homes, schools. they've been pretty much reduced to rubble, and these are some of those who used to live in them. they've lost everything. it's not human to do this, she says. to attack the children. they grab whatever they can in

plastic bags. pets, tvs. this is all they have now. right next door, there are two schools. one is a kindergarten. schools have been suspended for the time being in the capital or these classrooms would have been full of pupils. these attacks are killing, and they're not soldiers or fighters. this was an elderly man, one of many who felt too frail to leave the city despite the dangers. the daily attacks have left others badly hurt. he survived with terrible head wounds. his wife did not. the victims here don't have much faith in any peace talks succeeding, and no one we spoke to had any doubt about who the attacks are aimed at. do you think it was specifically targeted at civilians like you? why, though? yes, yes, i definitely think this, she says. putin's trying to kill as many

ukrainians as he can. and the kyiv mayor is absolutely certain these repeated attacks on civilians are ruthlessly executed. do you think there's any mistake this could have been a mistake? or was this deliberately targeting civilians? >> okay. if we're talking about mistake, his mistake, last morning was a mistake, 24 hours ago, two days ago was mistake. huge mistake, destroy the kharkiv and mariupol. how many mistakes they do it? how many civilians have to killed to explain about mistake from russian forces? >> reporter: the u.n.'s warned the country's food supply system is falling apart. they were scrambling to save stocks here. a number of these shops have been hit as well, and impacted. that is the worry is that a lot of these food supply chains, bakeries, food factories, have all been impacted as well, and

they're being specifically targeted. so, they're wasting no time, pooling supplies in kyiv. these are all donations. they're trying to make sure those left homeless and hungry by the bombings are somehow looked after. and this despite worries that food warehouses in the country are running low. those who have are giving o those who don't. >> i think that we are the second front on this country, because the army is the first front. volunteers and people, second front. >> reporter: this is true community. whilst the capital may so far have been spared a major assault, among the workers here, there are those who have also lost their homes to the daily bombings, like tatiana, back two days later helping those she feels are less fortunate. >> it's strange. it's like something unbelievable. it's like from the movie. something from the movie came in my real life. >> reporter: she showed us her flat, now in bits.

she's moved in with friends. >> for me, i don't think that i can die or something like this. i'm afraid. i think what i can do for other people. i don't know. how i can help. because i'm lucky in my building. about 400 apartments, and everybody alive. you know, other people, not so lucky. >> reporter: the suffering is unrelenting. and whilst kyiv defenses are so far holding, the capital's residents are still bracing themselves for more of this and worse. alex crawfords, sky news, kyiv. so the russian president is no longer directing his anger only at ukraine. he is now turning it, in words,

against his own people. in a speech on wednesday, putin railed against russians who have fled the country amid this crackdown, calling them scum, traitors, insects. their exodus, he claimed, is now a part of the country's clensing, as he put it. this is a new tone, and it's put a lot of world leaders on edge. worried by a man they view as an increasingly isolated and paranoid despot. with me now to discuss is author of "all the kremlin's men: inside the court of vladimir putin." thanks for joining us on this. i want to read from you a little bit. >> thanks for having me. >> of course. i want to read for you a little bit from the "new york times," a bit more from president putin's speech here. saying this, putin called for a natural and necessary self-detoxification of society which would strengthen our country, our solidarity, and our cohesion. the russian people, as he put it, will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like an

insect in their mouth into the pavement. he said this while his shoulders were hunched and staring down the barrel of the camera. give me your read on this speech from vladimir putin. >> you know, if we were talking to -- two weeks ago, i would say that russian society is deeply polarized and about half of the population or probably one-third of russian population deeply denounces the war and one-third supports it. but now the situation has really changed, and that the tragedy of ukrainian people and the tragedy of this war brought us to completely different situation. now, we obviously have two russias, and russian people is the -- probably the biggest

divided nation with a half million russians have already fled the country within the last two weeks. that's a humanitarian crisis that obviously is not that important and that urgent and that leading as the war that is happening in ukraine, but that's very important to know for the western audience that half million or even more of those russians who cannot agree with what is happening and who do not support the war and who were fighting against putin and who were fighting and protesting, participating in protest rallies taking part in the -- in creating independent media and so on. it's all gone. like, all -- all the -- all the

russian civil society is gone. it has been destroyed, and obviously, from what we are hearing from president putin, he's more than happy with that. he's happy with the fact that he has turned russia into some kind of north korea. the huge north korea and he is eradicating what he calls fifth column but actually that's russian middle class. that's the most educated, enlightened, successful russians who will never agree with that kind of massacre. and that kind of crime he's committing in ukraine. >> mikhail, do you think putin has any real incentive here to negotiate a peace treaty with ukraine to stop the invasion, to stop the war?

do you really think he wants to stop it? >> unfortunately, i don't see that possibility. because according to russian state propaganda, there is no any war between russia and ukraine. >> right. >> according to russian propaganda, and to his mindset, he has been attacked by the americans and he sincerely believes that there is a war between russia and america that was started back in 2004 during the first ukrainian orange revolution and probably former american president george w. bush initiated that war, and he -- putin has always suspected that americans had conspiracy planned to topple him, and that's just another episode in

that never-ending fight. so he's not interested in any kind of negotiations, and russian audience, those people who are watching russian television, would not understand any kind of truce between russia and ukraine, but actually, that's not a problem for putin. he can show anything to russian audience, to that part of russian people who still believe the state propaganda. he can show them any picture with any kind of victory. >> and they'll believe it. >> and the russian liberating army has won that war. >> really quick, mikhail, who is advising the russian president? is there anybody that can get through at this point? is there anybody that is not a "yes" man advising putin? >> unfortunately, no. unfortunately, he's really isolated, and only those people

who really share his attitude are close to him, i mentioned in my op-ed for the "new york times." but that doesn't mean that anyone has real influence and can change his attitude. all those liberal politicians, liberal economists who used to be his friends and advisors have lost any contact and any access to president putin, so he's really out of touch as ex-german chancellor angela merkel put it back in 2014. he really believes that he's the most experienced politician in the world, and he can make it. yeah, that's a common tragedy, actually. the more tragedy of ukrainian

people and russian people. >> mikhail zygar, thank you so much. and by the way, if you have an opportunity, it was six days or so ago now, mikhail had a brilliant op-ed in "the new york times," and he just referred to, talking about the inner circle of vladimir putin and his thinking. of course, referring to his research alongside his book. mikhail, thank you so much for joining us on this. it was brilliant and very interesting to read. >> thank you. up next, everybody, biden's warning to china, what the white house is saying about the president's 110-minute call with xi jinping who has yet to denounce russia's actions. we'll be right back. et to denounce russia's actions. we'll be right back. so, quick wellness check, how are you these days? friendships an 8, but your knee is...barely a 2? and what about your cheerfulness? or, you know...able-to-relax-edness.

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welcome back. a message to ukraine from outer space. a trio of russian cosmonauts landed at the international space station early this morning sporting yellow flight suits with blue stripes and accents, appearing to match the ukrainian national flag in a call shortly after touching down, the men spoke to callers by phone, wishing them luck on their mission. when asked about their clothing

choices, one responded saying each crew is allowed to pick its own colors from a stock supply of equipment, stopping short of confirming whether the decision was a deliberate reference to the ongoing war as violence is escalating. all right, the president taking a firm stand against china helping vladimir putin during a two-hour call with president xi jinping on friday. biden said there would be implications and consequences if beijing decides to give material to russian forces. nbc's gary grumbach joins us from the white house. thanks for joining us on this. talk to us more about this conversation, what went on between president xi and president biden, and any specifics we know. >> reporter: hey there, yasmin, yeah, we know that they did give that warning, president biden did give that warning to president xi, but we don't know a whole lot more beyond that on that subject. a senior administration official called the two-hour call substantive, direct, and detailed. this was a really important call for the president to make. he has been hoping for a

diplomatic solution to this crisis in ukraine for weeks now, and we're told that he made that very clear to the chinese leader. we're also hearing that the white house press secretary, jen psaki, was pressed on this idea of the two leaders as it related to any assistance china may be providing russia. here's what she had to say about that. >> the president detailed what the implications, consequences would be if china provides material support to russia as it conducts brutal accounts against ukrainian cities and civilians and that's something we'll be watching and the world will be watching. >> reporter: we don't have any details on what those implications or consequences might be. of course, kristen welker and other journalists certainly pressed jen psaki on that, but no details on that just yet. joe biden has a busy week ahead. he's going to be heading to europe on wednesday to meet with members of the g7, nato, and the

european council all in an effort to show a united allied force in support of ukraine. >> all right, gary grumbach for us, thank you. russia's invasion is taking longer than putin anticipated, but was his intelligence wrong, or were his subordinates avoiding the truth? analysis coming up next. es avoiding the truth analysis coming up next. (vo) right now, the big switch is happening across the country. small businesses are fed up with big bills and 5g maps that are mostly gaps— they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever. plus, choose from the latest 5g smartphones— like a free samsung galaxy s22. so switch to the network that helps your business do more for less—join the big switch to t-mobile for business today. it's 5:00 a.m., and i feel like i can do anything. we've been coming here, since 1868. there's a lot of cushy desk jobs out there, but

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ravage for cities, officials say putin's playbook will likely include the systematic kidnapping of local leaders. >> this is a terror tactic, grab local officials, depose local governments, put proxies in their place. >> at least four mayors have already been captured. one has been released, they say, as part of a prisoner swap. the mayor of melitopol. his subsequent release and use of an expletive during a celebratory phone call made president zelenskyy crack a smile. >> but fear is spreading. today, this refugee told us the mayor of her city in southern ukraine was in hiding. in another town, about 75 miles from kyiv, the mayors now surrounded by armed guards. >> the russian army there changing tactics. that was nbc's gabe gutierrez

reporting. and yet another tactic, russia saying it has now used its newest hypersonic missiles for the first time. russia's interfax news agency saying it used the missile to destroy what it says was a weapons storage site near the ukrainian border with romania. nbc, by the way, has not confirmed the missile was actually fired but if true, it poses a new kind of threat. joined know by colonel matt dimmic. is it confirmed that this is the first known use of these types of missiles in combat? >> i believe so. i don't think we've seen them used. there was some reports that they may have tried to test this in syria. i can't remember if that's accurate or not but it's also important not to read too much into this particular strike today if indeed it proves to be true which i don't have any reason to think it wasn't. this, at the end of the day, this system is just another

sophisticated delivery system for getting a thousand pounds of high explosives to a target. they can easily do that with a bomb or missile so strapping it to a missile that goes ten times the speed of sound doesn't affect much. it's clearly a demonstration of proof of concept. these are extremely expensive systems, obscenely expensive, hard to manufacture, which means russians only have a handful of these on hand. very small stockpile. i don't expect to see them deploy these too much or if they do, very sparingly in the future. >> got it. so what i'm hearing from you, colonel, is basically this is russians kind of pounding their chests and saying, look what we got, look what we have, trying to stoke more fear when it comes to this invasion into ukraine but this doesn't necessarily change the game, the use of these missiles. >> not a game changer in any way whatsoever. and certainly doesn't change the character of this war or provide the russians with any measurable advantage that they don't already have. >> what do you make of kind of

this new tactic as well that we were just hearing from our correspondent on the ground there, gabe gutierrez, kind of taking hostage these local mayors, really kind of using a ground game, it seems, urban warfare, russian soldiers now taking place in -- taking -- using these tactics of urban warfare because it seems as if their tactics earlier were not necessarily working. >> that's right out of their playbook. they'll go in, take people off the streets. they used this in chechnya to their advantage, used kidnapping and murder and assassinations to take out key people within cities and towns and try to reduce the amount of political opposition and resistance they get so not an unexpected move on the russians' part and an integral piece as they go inside these cities to try to take ground, block by block. so i think you'll see more of this in the future as well, unfortunately. >> colonel, what do you think has been the biggest

miscalculation of vladimir putin's when it comes to military so far? >> oh, two huge miscalculations. the -- russia grossly underestimated ukrainians' will and their skill. the ukrainian military, i'm sure putin probably had some misconceptions from 2014 when the ukrainian military was not as proficient and performed relatively poorly against russian advances in the donbas and the seizure of crimea. there may be some misconceptions that were carried over from them, not realizing that since then, the ukrainian military is really gone to school with the help of the united states and some allies with some very sophisticated training and equipment programs, have really bolstered the ukrainian military, made them much more capable. they have reformed their military. they've gone back to some fundamental tactics. they have focused on the building blocks of shooting, moving, communicating, and have

just been much more proficient. we're seeing that play out on the battlefield now, and i don't think the russians had any conception of how good the ukrainian military really had become in these intervening years. >> colonel, thank you. we appreciate you joining us today. >> all right, thank you. everybody, ahead in our next hour, more on the ground reporting from ukraine, plus ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy calling for more direct talks with the kremlin. is it possible for an open line of communication between him and vladimir putin? former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, is here, coming up. ador to ukraine, bill taylor, is here, coming up. (driver 1) it's all you. (driver 2) no, i insist. (driver 1) it's your turn. (driver 2) nope, i think it's your turn. (driver 1) i appreciate you so much, thank you so much... go. (driver 2) i appreciate your appreciation. it fills me. (burke) safe drivers save money with farmers. (bystander) just for driving safely? (burke) it's a farmers policy perk. get farmers and you could get a safe driver discount simply for having a clean driving record for three years. (driver 3) come on! (driver 1) after you. (driver 2) after you. (drivers 1 and 2) safety first!

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♪♪ hey, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. if you are just joining us, welcome. if you're sticking with us, thank you. it's 4:00 p.m. in the east, 10:00 p.m. in ukraine. after weeks of russian troops circling and shelling the coastal city of mariupol, forces have officially besieged the area, shutting down a major steel plant amidst heavy fighting. russian troops have already cut the city off from the sea of azov. its fall marks a major battlefield advance for russia, who have been bogged down outside multiple major cities for weeks. this takeover is coming just hours after president volodymyr zelenskyy's call for a negotiation of peace, quote, without delay.